Family Moments
by Riniel Haerion
Summary: Drabbles and one shots of happier and sillier moments in the Johnson brothers' lives. Doesn't always completely follow canon
1. Chapter 1

"Why are we actually listening to Mike though?" Axl mumbled, staring angrily into the wall in the corner he was now sitting in front of.

"Because we fucked up, now shut up, we're not supposed to talk." Ty answered, from his chair on the other side of the room.

It was as if they were kids again. Ty, Axl, and Anders had all suddenly paid a visit to Mike and Valerie, and they had decided to have a 'friendly tussle' in the living room that had absolutely nothing to do with arguing about anything at all. Either way, it had resulted in a vase being smashed after Ty had punched Anders. Anders had flown quite a bit farther than expected and had knocked over a vase that had been sitting there. That's when Mike came in out of nowhere, and he was angry. The three brothers felt like they were little kids again while Mike was yelling at them, and then he had the nerve to even send them into time out exactly as he used to when they were little. Hell, they even had the same spots where they'd always end up in.

Axl was sitting in a corner facing a wall, Ty was sitting in a chair across the room also facing the wall, and Anders was in another chair facing a different corner. They had all complained loudly to Mike that he was treating them like children, but in the end Ty and Anders relented quietly to their chairs. Axl was still mad. He had just become Odin, and even if he wasn't exactly Odin yet without his full powers, he should be able to decide whether or not he'd be sent to some corner like when he was little. He was even more angry at his two older brothers who had resigned to their fate so easily.

"No really, we're all grown adults and our older brother was still able to send us to corners like we're fucking five years old!" Axl slammed his head against the wall.

"Well, you know what Mike said," Anders said without turning around from his own corner. "If we're going to fight like five year olds, we're going to be punished like five year olds. So here we are, stuck in corners. Besides Ty. He's just facing a wall. I always knew he was Mike's favorite." Axl could practically hear the eye roll in his older brother's voice. "Just be glad he didn't decide to hit us with his belt. He did that to me when I was sixteen and came home after curfew and dared argue with him like a 6 year old."

"Is that what that was?" Ty asked, also not turning around. "I just assumed you were into some weird shit back then."

"Haha, very funny." Anders muttered.

Axl ignored them and groaned loudly. "How long are we going to be here? It's been like an hour! And why didn't I get a chair anyways? I'm the only one sitting on the floor!"

"You're the youngest. And it's only been five minutes, you can stand ten more can't you?" Anders leaned back on his chair.

"No. No I can't." Axl leaned his head against the wall and muttered. "This is bullshit. You can't ground Odin..."

"You can ground Odin if you're his older brother, apparently." Ty and Anders laughed at him.

Fuck those guys.


	2. Chapter 2

Ty was a bit jealous of Anders at the moment. Stupid, tiny, fish, Anders. Ty hadn't been in the best of moods ever since he had discovered his new 'godly' powers. Now he was always cold, and always so damn depressed. And now he was sitting at the edge of a pool watching his older brother paddle along in the water like he was part fish or something. Ty felt like he couldn't even get in the pool for fear of accidentally freezing his brothers in it. And Mike and Olaf had specifically told him that Axl was not to know a thing about all this god business until he turned 21. So for now Ty was avoiding touching the water at all, because he didn't have control over his powers quite yet. Anders has been having fun with that, constantly handing him warm beers or melting ice cream.

At least that was somewhat useful, even if he could no longer enjoy eating hot foods or being warm at all for that matter. And right now he was still accidentally freezing his drinks in his mouth. Thankfully Axl was extraordinarily oblivious to the entire matter. It didn't make it any better though. He just didn't want Anders to be bragging all the time about how at least he could use his powers to get ladies into his bed while all Ty was doing was accidentally freezing things he wasn't supposed to (showers had become a very dangerous thing, and probably will be until he finally gets a hang of his powers.)

But even if he was so cold, the pool still looked rather inviting. Mike was lounging with Olaf on some pool chairs, while Anders and Axl were having races across the pool, with Anders predictably winning every time. Ty may not be the fish that Anders was, but he was still a strong swimmer. He just didn't want to freeze the water over. It seems like Axl finally got fed up with Anders winning every time, because he had suddenly gotten out and stalked back into the house mumbling to himself.

"Axl is such a sore loser." Anders laughed as he treaded the water. "Aren't you going to come in for a swim, Jack Frost?" Anders turned to look at Ty.

"No. I'm fine. I'm cold enough already, swimming probably won't make it any better." Ty sighed.

"Okay, your loss little brother." He ducked his head into the water.

Ty watched as Anders broke through the surface, and he looked down into the water. Maybe if he just dipped his feet in, nothing bad would happen? He sat down and scooted closer to the pool before pausing. He looked up to see Olaf and Mike talking to each other, and not paying attention to the pool at all, and Anders was still swimming around. Ty carefully stuck his foot out, and dunked one of his toes into the water. It wasn't actually that cold, or maybe it just wasn't as cold as himself. Well, nothing seemed to have happened, so he stuck his foot in a bit more.

Nothing.

Maybe he was finally gaining control of his powers? Feeling perhaps a bit over confident in his abilities, he plunged both his feet into the water quickly.

"Holy FUCK!"

Bad idea. Ty quickly pulled his legs out, to see that there was a ring of ice around his legs. And the entire pool was now covered in a layer of ice. He winced slightly, when he realized that Anders was still in the pool, and he panicked as he watched his older brother struggle trying to get out of the ice. He would have laughed, because Anders just looked so goddamn ridiculous stuck in the ice like that, but the water must be really cold, and Ty had caused it. Anders maybe be a resilient little bastard, but even he couldn't combat things like hypothermia, and it'll all be Ty's fault. He wanted to run over and help Mike and Olaf, but he knew if he just touched Anders a bit, it'll make it worse. He was just glad that Axl had gone inside.

"What the fuck were you doing Ty?" Anders was out, and currently being rolled up in way too many towels by Olaf, and Mike had gone over to Ty's side.

"Well...I stuck my feet in the pool?" He felt like an idiot. "Look Mike, I didn't mean to, I thought I could control it..." He trailed off.

Mike sighed. "Well...You might have to wait awhile before you can get into a pool again. Be lucky that Axl wasn't in the pool too, and that Anders seems to be alright."

Ty nodded, and watched as Anders (now practically just a pile of towels) was carried in by Olaf. "I'll try not to do it again..."

Yes, Ty was so lucky to have been stuck with being the god of gloom and doom. How the hell was he supposed to form any sort of relationship with anyone when there was a chance he'd freeze them to death? Maybe he'd just hole himself up in his room and never leave again. Maybe there was some way to lose your god powers, but he doubted it. He sighed, and bent down to poke his hand in the water again. The water around his hand froze immediately, but he was still able to pull out his hand.

"Whoa! How the hell did this happen?" Axl had come out again, but instead of being shocked, he seemed to look at the frozen over pool in excitement. "Do you think it's thick enough to go ice skating? We should do it! I'm better at ice skating than Anders!"

Thank goodness Axl was kind of an idiot, or else this could have gone much, much, worse.


	3. Chapter 3

Mike had been checking the duffel bag over and over again since the morning. All the stones were still there, the same as they had been after Mike's own ceremony. Today was Anders' birthday, which meant it was time for his god ceremony, and Mike was nervous as hell. He wished his mother would have given him a bit more explanation, maybe something written down so he wouldn't forget. Even a damn pamphlet would have been helpful! How was he supposed to explain to his younger brother that he was a god? He ran his fingers over the stones again, counting them. He was taking Anders back to the forest under the disguise of a hiking trip. Anders had been against it, but Mike (with Olaf's help, since he had been visiting a few weeks ago) explained that it was a tradition in their family when someone turns twenty one.

So thats why they were currently walking through the forest in a slightly awkward silence. Anders had been slowly breaking apart from their family, and Mike had an odd feeling that as soon as Anders got his god powers, he would just leave as soon as he was physically able to.

"So what's in the bag that's so important that you keep checking it?" Anders piped up suddenly, looking up at Mike.

"It's...Nothing important right now. We'll keep going for a bit, and then you'll get to see." Mike said finally, trying to pick his words carefully.

Anders stared at him for a moment, and Mike could tell he was contemplating whether or not he should bug Mike for the answer. But he finally relented with an 'okay', and they continued onward for a few miles until they reached the familiar clearing where Mike had his own ceremony just four years previously. Mike couldn't help but look at where their mother had disappeared to be a tree, and wondered if one of the trees nearby happened to be her. He sighed, and dropped his other bags to the ground, keeping the duffel bag close. "Okay...I guess it's time."

Anders put his own bags down and stood awkwardly. "Time for what, exactly?"

Mike slowly started putting the stones around Anders in a circle, as he slowly went through the steps that his mother had explained to him in his head as he did so. He didn't want to mess this up and hurt his brother. When he was done, he carefully pulled out the blanket with the sword in it, and uncovered it. He heard Anders let out a sharp gasp.

"What the hell Mike? What are you doing? What are up with these...rocks?" Anders backed up slightly when Mike turned around.

"It's kinda weird to explain, but Anders, you have to believe what I'm saying. You're a god."

Anders stared blankly at Mike for a moment, before he burst out laughing. "A...A god? I know I'm amazing and all, but I don't think I'm a god or anything!" He laughed, and slowly became quiet when he realized that Mike didn't even crack a smile. "You're...You're being serious right now...A god?"

"Yes. I'm one as well. When mum took me to the forest when I turned 21, she did the same thing we're going to do right now." Mike took a deep breath. "I'm sorry if this isn't the best thing, but she only left me with about two sentences of explanation before she went off to become a tree."

"Become...a...a tree?!" Anders screeched, in a rather high pitched voice. "Okay, okay, first you're telling me I'm a...a god! And now you're telling me our mum became a tree. A fucking tree. This has got to be a lie...You can't be serious." He paused. "If I'm a 'god', does that mean you're one too? And mum?"

"Yes. I'm Ullr, god of the hunt. Mum was Freyja, and dad was Njörðr. You see, when a god turns 21, his powers manifest. This ceremony is to figure out exactly which Norse god you are. There's a lot more to explain about it, but that has to be done later." Mike held up the sword to Anders. "Now take it."

He handed the sword to Anders, and moved out of the ring of stones. Anders shifted a bit, looking rather apprehensive at the sword in his hands. "What am I supposed to do with it...?"

Mike tried to remember. "Hold it up." He felt like he was forgetting something.

There was really no time to think, because Anders' scream pierced his ears and his eyes were temporarily blinded from the lightning bolt that suddenly struck near him directly onto Anders. He fell backwards, and then realized what he had forgot after he heard another scream of panic. His clothes. He got up quickly and stumbled over to a panicking Anders who had thrown off his jacket and t-shirt, which were now burning on the ground.

Anders spun around. "Mike! That was my favorite jacket! Why didn't you tell me a fucking lightning bolt would come out of nowhere and hit me!" He was all jittery. "Holy fuck!" He looked up at Mike, his eyes widening. "Wait...So which god am I? Please tell me I didn't lose my jacket for nothing."

Mike paused for a moment, silently wondering how his mother had figured out which god he was. But then it hit him, what his mother had said. He hoped he was right, because Olaf was supposed to have been here to tell Anders. But no, he had disappeared 'following the waves'. "...Bragi. God of poetry."

"Oh..." Anders furrowed his eyebrows. "What does he do?"

"How should I know? Olaf should have been here to explain it all to you...Really, this wasn't the best god ceremony ever. I just hope Ty's improves from this one, because honestly I have no idea what the fuck I'm doing."

"Yeah, you really don't look like you know what you're doing. I'm glad I ended up being your guinea pig though." Anders said sarcastically, but he continued. "Olaf? Is cousin Olaf a god too?" He perked up slightly.

"Yes, and he's our oracle. Damn unreliable, but we're stuck with him. He's Baldr, god of rebirth. He ages really slowly. Oh by the way, he's our grandfather, not our cousin." Mike tucked the sword away and began picking up the stones.

"Oh...Wait. What?"


	4. Mother's Day Interlude!

Note: I'm only a few days late for a mother's day related chapter, so it still counts right?

Anders swore he had heard the door open in the early hours of the morning, but due to his being half asleep, that wasn't exactly the most reliable source. It could have easily been a one night stand deciding to leave, because that tended to be the case most of the time. The only thing being he didn't actually remember bringing anyone home with him, so that was an issue. But at the time he didn't care, so he had just dropped off to sleep again without another passing thought as to who might be entering or exiting his flat at the moment.

The second time was later in the morning, and it was the sound of something crashing onto the floor and a loud banging noise echoing throughout the flat. That caused Anders to shoot up in his bed and stare wildly around for a moment. He heard hurried and rather angry whispers coming from outside of his room, and now he was sure that someone was in his house. He had just wanted to sleep in for once, but instead he had to deal with whoever the fuck decided to enter uninvited. He hastily put on some sweatpants and wandered out of his bedroom. He was greeted to seeing his kitchen in complete disarray, and the source of the loud bang was a pot that was now lying overturned on the ground. Dirty dishes were piled in the sink and there were various foods still left out along with dirty dishes that never made it to the sink.

"Umm...What the fuck?" He turned around to see the source of the mess, to see Axl and Ty standing behind him, with Axl holding a tray full of food. "Okay, as much as I love breakfast, I am going to have to ask why you decided to come into my house and fuck up my kitchen to create said food." Anders asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Don't you remember what day it is today Anders?" Ty asked.

Anders stared blankly at both of them. "It's Sunday."

Axl nodded. "Yeah! But it's mother's day you know!" He seemed quite proud of himself.

"That's all fine and dandy, but I'm not sure if you two have noticed, I'm not mum. She's a tree you know. But I'll still accept the breakfast if it isn't poisoned."

Ty rolled his eyes. "We're perfectly aware that mum is a tree, Anders. But Axl pointed out that you and Mike kinda became mum and dad after our actual mum and dad left. We figured you'd get the honor of being mum because Mike would just kill us if we implied he were mum. You don't have the body strength to do that, so we figured it'd be safe."

Axl added on excitedly. "And anyways, even if you weren't exactly the best at taking care of us, you always made sure we had lunch and stuff for school so that is better than what mum did for us! You're helping me search for Frigg too, so we might as well do something to say thanks!" He held up the tray. "So...Happy mother's day!"

Ty easily went over and picked up Anders before he could respond and carried him back to his bedroom, and Axl set up the tray carefully.

Anders looked up at both of them. "I'm not sure whether I should feel insulted at that stab at my upper body strength, but I'll let it slide for now. It was in good thought." He sipped his juice, before glancing up at them again. "But you are aware I'm not cleaning that mess you left in the kitchen, right? If I'm mum for today then you'd best be treating me like a queen." He leaned back with a smirk on his face as both younger brothers quickly complied with what he had to say.

Yeah, Anders could deal with being mum, if it meant he could boss around his brothers for the day.


	5. Axl's First Date

Note: This is the beginning of a request from Tumblr in which I write all the first dates of the Johnson Bros. Starting off with the youngest and going up.

Axl was 13 years old when he had his first date. His first real date, because his brothers wouldn't be coming along and embarrassing him greatly. Because if there was something that the Johnson brothers were good at besides arguing, it was embarrassing each other in any way possible. They pull pranks or say strange things, and everyone who lived near them knew to watch out for those Johnson boys, because you had no clue what they were up to. It was mainly because most of the time they had no adult supervision. There was Mike, and that's it. And Mike could only be a subpar guardian at best, and he often partook in most of the stuff they did.

So that's why when he had to go back to his house to quickly pick up a jacket before he went out on his date, he was nervous. His brothers knew full well that this was Axl's first proper date, and they were strangely calm when Axl announced his plans about his date. His brothers being calm was never a good sign.

"Just as a warning, my brothers are...A bit weird." Axl said to his date, and she smiled at him.

"Oh, it's fine! I'm sure they're not too bad!" Her voice was a bit high pitched, and she was actually a bit annoying from what he knew. But she had asked him out on a date, and what was he to do? He didn't want to seem lame to anyone, so he accepted.

He just nodded at her as they walked up the steps to the door, and when he unlocked it with his key, he braced himself with what was to come. But nothing happened. He opened the front door a bit wider, but no one seemed to be inside the house. He glanced back at the girl he was with, and she was still obliviously smiling at him without a care in the world. He gave a small smile back, and turned to actually go get his jacket. That's when he swore he heard footsteps, and he quickly turned around again and nearly yelped out in fear.

"What are your intentions with my brother?" Mike asked, in a painfully bad American southern accent. And he was holding...

"Mike where the fuck did you get a shotgun?" Axl screeched as he pulled his now pale date back behind him away from his brother, who was casually holding a shotgun in his hands.

"I have my sources. Right Anders?"

Oh god, Anders. It seems that he raided their mother's closet and was wearing a random assortment of female clothing and holding a frying pan much like a baseball bat. The grin that he had on his face was positively terrifying, and Axl actually feared for his own life.

"We just want to make sure this strange high pitched pre-teen is good enough for our little brother! We don't want his heart broken, right Ty?" Anders said in a rather sing-songy voice.

"Ty?" Axl whirled around to see Ty casually holding some weird sharp instruments that looked like they were for ice carving. But they were sharp, and the maniacal look on Ty's face didn't help. "Holy shit!"

The girl screamed as all three weapons were pointed at her, and she quickly ran away, leaving the four brothers standing on the porch. Axl's face was growing red with anger as he glared at his brothers who were all grinning with satisfaction. "What the hell guys? I told you not to fuck it up and you went and did it anyways!" He whined.

"We meant what we said. She wasn't worth it anyways little brother. Her voice was really annoying too, and just last week you were complaining about the bitch, so why date her?" Anders said casually.

Axl looked confused. "Because...That's what you're supposed to do right? I mean you're with a new girl every few days!"

Mike cut in before Anders could reply. "Anders is a whore, you know that. You have to find yourself a proper girl, one you like. Not just some random girl who asked you just because she probably wanted to seem cooler in the eyes of her peers."

Ty nodded. "And anyways, Anders and Mike did the same thing on my first date. Call it a tradition if you will, although Anders actually raiding mum's closet was a nice touch to the over protective parents bit. Even if he really doesn't care much."

Anders rolled his eyes and moved forward to ruffle Axl's hair. "Come on, let's go inside. These clothes are itchy as fuck.


	6. Ty's First Date

Ty had to admit it, he was lucky. Not only had he managed to snag a date with a nice girl from the book club that he had reluctantly joined. It had been Anders idea for him to join the club, oddly enough. He said that it would be mainly girls in the club, so even Ty would probably be able to get a date with a nice quiet bookish girl that would compliment his quiet broody personality. But she had quickly proved to be made of tougher stuff when Anders and Mike suddenly appeared with guns and frying pans at the ready to scare her off. She hadn't been fazed at all, while Ty had let out an extremely unmanly scream that he knew Anders would never let him forget about. Axl had been oblivious to the whole thing, too busy watching TV to care why his older brothers looked like they were going to attack a girl in a sweater.

They had ended up going to a bowling alley together, and neither of them were saying much. They'd just awkwardly look away when they made eye contact. Neither of them were very good at bowling either. They were barely a few points up and constantly getting gutterballs that would clearly bring dishonor upon their families.

"Do...Do you want me to get you a drink?" Ty said suddenly, looking at his date.

"O-Oh...Alright." She replied, mumbling slightly as her face grew a bit red.

Ty nodded and quickly went to get them drinks, and when he returned, she gratefully accepted the drink and immediately took a sip. Ty smiled a bit. The date actually wasn't going that bad, even if they only really spoke in short sentences to each other, and mainly just quiet compliments for when they actually manage to knock down some pins as opposed to missing completely. The only thing Ty noticed is whenever he brushed up against her, she seemed to shrink away slightly, and she tended to give him strange, almost curious looks.

After a rather abysmal game of bowling, they had finally relented and were on their way home when his date finally spoke up and actually said something more than the usual short sentences. "You know Ty, you can tell me anything you'd like. Honestly, I won't judge..." She said looking at him, trailing off slightly near the end.

"What?" He had no idea where that had come from.

"I'm being serious! I mean...I understand it can be difficult to talk about, but I'm really very understanding..." She continued.

"I still have no idea what you're talking about..."

"I...Well you're in the book club, and I always see you hanging out with girls and not guys..." She paused for a bit. "And really would like to be friends with you, but I don't want to be a cover up for your sexuality Ty!"

Ty froze, and stared at her blankly for a moment before his face grew red. "Oh no, I'm...I'm not..."

She seemed to realize, and blushed. "Oh...Oh god I'm so sorry Ty...I just thought since...Well...You were in the book club and you were always so kind to the rest of us girls...I-I mean I guess I just assumed." She was waving her hands about in an erratically nervous fashion, and Ty didn't know what to say. "Really Ty, I'm so sorry about this...But we can still be friends right?" She looked a bit desperate, hoping she hadn't just ruined their friendship.

"Yeah...It's fine. Honestly, it's fine." He said with a bit of a sigh. And he thought it had gone so well, and it ended up on an awkward note.

He just hoped it wouldn't happen again.


	7. Anders' First Date

I was having so much trouble trying to figure out Anders' first date that I literally just said 'fuck it' and wrote this. I apologize for anyone who was hoping for something better. Warning: uh...slash.

000

Anders lived most of his childhood being hated by pretty much everyone in existence because he was annoying, manipulative, and short. Well, they didn't really hate him because he was short, but they often chose that part of him to tease him about. The only companions he ever had were the endless supply of goldfish that Mike gave him (the current one being Kevin the beta fish), and all of that was fine and dandy until he turned thirteen years old.

Edwin was a new guy, and clearly puberty was treating him much better than it was treating Anders at the moment. He was taller, lean, with brown hair and brown eyes. Every single girl seemed to swoon at him whenever he passed by, but one thing Anders noticed was that Edwin tended to stare at him a lot. Like, getting to the point where it was slightly creepy and he was considering going to a teacher to make him stop. But Anders never did that, instead he walked straight up to the guy to confront him personally. Which was probably a bad idea because he was about a head taller than Anders.

"Yeah, so I've noticed you've been staring at me ever since you got here. Can you stop please?" His voice cracked mid-sentence, and some girls nearby started laughing at him.

"Oh, you've noticed?" The bastard didn't even attempt to deny the accusation, which Anders wasn't expecting.

"U-uh...Yeah. I mean..." Anders searched for words. "It was a bit obvious."

The taller boy leaned in uncomfortably close. "Well you're an interesting guy to look at, Anders Johnson."

Anders took a step back. "Uh. Great. So we have that settled, I'm going to go now-" Before Anders could scurry away, Edwin grabbed his arm. "Uh, yeah, if you could let go that'd be great..."

"Would you like to see a movie with me?"

"What."

"You know, going to a theater, paying tickets, watching a movie. That type of thing. With me." How the fuck can that guy keep his composure while Anders was flailing about like a fish out of water.

"A date?" Anders wasn't really questioning the fact about how it was a guy that was asking but more about the fact that someone was actually asking him out on a date.

Edwin smiled at him. "Yes."

"Well...Okay." Wait, why was he agreeing with this? Anders wasn't into guys. But it was too late to back out now.

Edwin smiled even wider and dared to lean forward and give Anders a peck on the lips, which caused the shorter boy to grow bright red. There were gasps all around them from girls who had been watching them like hawks. It looks like their fantasy was broken now that they knew that Edwin was never interested in them to begin with, and Anders quickly realized that all his classmates probably thought he was gay. And going out with Edwin. A guy. And that guy looked so goddamn happy that Anders didn't say anything else about the matter and just awkwardly smiled back, hoping he wouldn't fuck anything up.

The date had gone surprisingly well, the movie was great, and they actually went out to eat afterwards. But more importantly Anders kept a secret from his family, because he didn't want them to know that he had just gone out on an awesome date with a guy. Mike and Ty would never let him hear the end of it, and Axl would just giggle and hold his arms up so Anders could carry him. He was extremely glad that his parents or his brothers really didn't care enough to ever wonder where Anders disappeared to. So his secret was safe. But he had to admit that he really did enjoy the date, and he thought that Edwin was a pretty nice guy besides the fact that he stared at Anders a lot sometimes. And that date wasn't a first time thing, they went out a few more times before Edwin ended up moving to America. But his brothers never found out. As far as they're concerned Anders' first date was with some chick when he was fifteen.

It was nice keeping his own little secrets.


	8. Mike's First Date

Note: This was quite possibly the most difficult one to write, because I don't really have the best grasp on Mike's character as I do with the other brothers, so that's why instead of inventing a character for his first date like all the others, I ended up going with Val. Also: Mega shoutout to GregsMadHatter, who has reviewed every chapter of whatever the hell this story even is. Go you! ooooo

Mike, Val, and Robb were at that age where it was extremely important that you were dating someone. It didn't matter who, nor how long the dating actually lasted, but you had to be dating. Really they were all just kids who had no idea what dating someone really meant, and they still had to get permission from their parents to actually go out and hang out for awhile (not that Mike's mum or dad actually cared much what he did.) But Mike still hadn't dated anyone yet. Robb was with some overly peppy girl who had a weird obsession with horses, and Val wasn't with anyone either. Mike had thought of asking her out on a date before, but decided against it because he as much as he loved her, it was only as a friend. Yet Robb had oh so kindly pointed out that Mike wasn't getting any younger (They were fourteen, which was practically ancient in most people's books to not have dated anyone before.)

So while they were studying in the library, Mike looked up abruptly and asked. "Do you want to go to the movies, Val?"

She gave him a sly grin. "Are you asking me out Mikkel Johnson?"

Mike blinked. "...Yes?" Smooth.

She laughed at his rather stupid response and nodded. "Of course! Maybe we could make it a double date with Robb and what's her face!" She looked at their third friend.

"Gwen, and yeah I'm up for it."

When they arrived at the theater, Mike concluded that it didn't actually feel much like a date. Really the only thing remotely different than their usual outings as friends was that he and Val were shyly holding hands and that Robb wouldn't stop making out with Gwen. Well, scratch that last part, Robb always did that. But other than that, there was really absolutely no change.

"Fuck..." He groaned as he failed for the third time to win Val a plushie from the little crane machine in the arcade that they had all ended up in.

"Aww, it's okay Mike. I know you're really horrible at these things, you didn't have to waste your money trying to win me the little stuffed doggy." She pat his shoulder.

"You know I'm absolute shit at any kind of game we play, and yet I still insist I try. No wonder I'm always broke." He smiled in amusement. "Maybe someday I'll somehow magically gain the power to win any game I want."

"Yeah, but for now you're still complete shit at everything, bro." Robb helpfully pointed out.

Mike almost wanted to pout at that comment, but instead tried again at getting that little stuffed dog that Val wanted. He put all his concentration on attempting to get it, and even imagining that he had those powers he was talking about earlier. Being able to win any game he played...Damn, that would be cool. He'd probably abuse the shit out of that.

"Mike you did it!" Val squealed as the stuffed puppy fell down the shoot.

Mike was part shocked and part pleased with himself that he actually managed to do it. And Val looked so happy holding that plush animal that she moved forward and planted a kiss on Mike's cheek. And for a moment he wondered what would happen if they actually continued dating. But, nothing ever really happened between the two of them, and a few weeks later after Robb's nasty break up with Gwen, he got together with Val. And Mike was okay with that.


	9. Karaoke

Olaf had suddenly decided that the only way that the Johnsons would achieve any sort of family unity was that they had to spend more time together as a family. This meant meeting more often than just having to instigate Things for whatever reason, (the most recent being Anders' drinking problem, which had ended up not being solved at all) and it also meant not being allowed to fight. So every single Friday was now deemed as Family Night as decreed by Odin (Olaf said it'd be more official that way.)

The first few weeks that they had the family night weren't very successful, and ended up with Ty and Ander nearly punching each other by the end of it most of the time. But as time went on they became more used to the idea of being forced to spend time with each other one day a week. For once they did rather normal things, like playing board games or cards (which Mike always won) or crowding around one of Axl's gaming systems in attempts to play video games. Sometimes they even went out to the mini golf course to play golf, and although Mike tended to win every game they ever played, they just decided that he didn't count.

This Friday they were somewhat at a loss for what they wanted to do. They were sick of board games and video games. They couldn't go out and play golf because the weather wasn't very agreeable with the strong wind and drizzle of rain. So they were stuck inside and in general very grumpy. Olaf wasn't even there with them, because he said that he was going to get something very quickly before arriving at Ty's place (where they were having that weeks family night). Of course for Olaf, 'very quickly' meant that he'd already been gone for about 4 hours.

"I say we just give up and start drinking!" Anders said with drunken enthusiasm as he poured himself another drink.

"You've been drinking Anders. And Olaf will get here soon. Hopefully." Mike glanced out the window to see if there was any sign of their grandpa.

After another hour of waiting and growing continually grumpier by the minute, Olaf stumbled in with a large box and a large grin.

"What do you have in the box?" Axl asked with genuine curiosity, as Olaf set it carefully on the ground. "Is it drugs?"

Olaf shook his head. "For once grandson, it is not. Because it's all gloomy outside and you guys were obviously not very happy, I brought a karaoke machine. No games, no thinking, and no Mike winning. Just a good old family bonding over how horrible our voices are."

"Speak for yourself grandpa," Anders slurred, sloshing a bit of his drink on Mike, who Anders was currently attempting to crawl over to get to Olaf. "I happen to sing like an aaangel."

"Angel of death..." Ty said rolling his eyes as Mike shoved Anders off of him. "I'm fairly sure you've made children cry just by speaking."

"Excuse you, angry popsicle man. But I'm not the god of cold and dark, I'm the god of poetry. That means I'm automatically good at the...words..thing."

"Yeah, beautiful. Clearly."

Anders managed to crawl his way over to where Olaf was setting up the karaoke machine and grabbed one of the microphones, but instead of using it himself, he stumbled over to where Axl was and shoved the microphone into his hands.

"Youngest sings first. It's the rules as decreed by Bragi god of awesome." He slumped onto the couch.

Axl looked up at his brothers with pleading eyes. "I don't really have to sing first do I?"

"You heard the god of awesome." Mike shrugged at him. "Youngest sings first. For once I'm glad for being the oldest. Besides Olaf."

Axl wasn't as bad as they were bracing themselves for, although he wasn't very good at hitting very high or very low notes. It didn't help that he stumbled over every other word because he kept looking around at them hoping that they weren't judging him to harshly. Ty's song went much better, although he was more speaking the lyrics than he actually was singing. It didn't help that Anders had started cat-calling and yelling Freebird every few seconds.

Anders caused all of them to go into a fit of giggles. He was still incredibly drunk, and had decided that he was going to serenade them with incredibly offkey renditions of Lady Gaga songs. He just kept going too. Every time a song ended he'd immediately start up another one. Mike was grateful of Anders being drunk for once, because it meant that he didn't have to sing. Olaf had even joined Anders in singing 'Don't Go Breaking My Heart', and afterwards they both ended up passing out on the ground.

The three brothers that were still pretty much sober had ended up dragging them into one of the guest bedrooms to sleep it out, but overall it had been a huge success. They probably wouldn't be doing it again any time soon just to avoid having two members of there family become incredibly drunk and singing cheesy love songs, but at least they managed to get most of it on video.

"And Mike you're going to have to sing first next time, you do realize." Ty said to Mike as they shoved Anders onto the bed.

"Yeah, well we won't be doing this for a long time..."

"Don't think we'll forget though, because unlike Anders and Olaf, Axl and I were fairly sober the whole time."

"Yeah, yeah. I guess I will. It'll be your funeral though."


	10. Sleep

It had started with another family night. It was a normal one this time, and no one got completely drunk. Unfortunately the weather was proving that it'd be difficult for them to all make it to their respective homes safely, so they were all stuck in Ty's home for the night. Mike had claimed the guest bedroom while everyone else had to fend for themselves with the couches and piles of blankets that Ty had thrown at them. Mike was quiet as he listened to the rumbles of thunder and occasionally saw a flash of lightning. Personally, he was never scared of thunderstorms. He actually found comfort in hearing them and often fell asleep rather quickly when it was storming outside. But he remembered way back when he and his brothers were much younger. His brothers unlike him, had been quite scared of thunderstorms.

Funnily enough, it'd always start with Anders. But then again the shortest Johnson was always weary of things that he couldn't talk his way out of, and storms weren't exactly things you could talk away. Since Anders was able, he would make his way into Mike's room and curl up in his bed without a single word uttered the whole time. But Mike could always feel the flinches and shivers coming from the smaller body curled up next to him whenever thunder crashed. After Ty was born, it became the same thing with him. First Anders would arrive and curl up in Mike's bed, and then Ty would come in and lay down on Mike's other side. It had been strange at first, having a brother clinging onto him from both sides.

Mike had been bracing himself after Axl was born, and sure enough as soon as the boy was able to, he'd come in after Anders and Ty and wriggle in between himself and Anders and fall asleep peacefully, drooling on Mike. It was amusing to Mike, especially because by then Anders and Ty were probably considered too old to be running to their brothers room to hide from the storms, but he thinks that they just got so used to it that they just continued without questioning it.

It was like that until god shit went all up in their business and their family essentially became more torn apart than it had been before. That little comfort that they gave each other suddenly disappeared along with everyone in their family. But the fact that they were all putting in an effort to become friendly with each other again was good, even if they were having a rather rocky beginning. But Mike could easily tell that they were getting better. He heard from Ty that he and Anders were meeting up more often, and the same with Axl.

Mike had been so absorbed in his own thoughts that he didn't feel the bed dip slightly until he heard another crash of thunder and a hand clutch his shirt.

"Uh...What are you...?"

"Just don't question it Mike." He heard Anders whisper back as his younger brother curled up stubbornly against Mike. "The storm is pretty loud isn't it?" Another crash. Another flinch.

"You never got over that fear?"

"You can't talk away a storm. I don't like it. Now shut up so I can sleep."

Mike knew he wasn't going to get anywhere from fighting it, so he didn't say anything. He was just falling asleep when he felt another dip in the bed from his other side. He already knew who it was without even having to ask. "You too Ty? And here I thought you guys all grew up."

He got a mumble in reply, and Ty scooted closer, stealing most of the blanket. Mike already knew what was going to happen next, and he wasn't even sure the bed would be able to support all the brothers. And sure enough, he felt someone attempting to make his way between a napping Anders and himself. Mike had to shove Anders out of the way before he was completely crushed by Axl who had finally joined the party sleeping in Mike's bed. Axl grinned bleary eyed at Mike when he noticed that Mike was staring.

"It's been awhile hasn't it?" Axl said quietly.

"Yeah. I almost kinda missed it. Although it was easier back then because you were all smaller."

Axl let out a soft laugh, before drifting off to sleep. Mike was quite warm now, with all his brothers curled up around him like they used to when they were little. The storm was still raging outside, but there was comfort in the room simply from each others presence. With Anders twitching slightly every time there was a crash of thunder, Ty hogging all the sheets, and Axl drooling on Mike. It would have generally been considered an uncomfortable experience, but it was his brothers. Simply saying that made it all right.


	11. Helping can be Weird

A/N: Sorry it took awhile to get this up (it's already been up for awhile on AO3) but I wasn't completely happy with it. Either way, I hope you enjoy!

As anyone would know, for some reason giving your phone to someone to show them a single thing is apparently open invitation for them to look at everything you have contained in your phone. At least that's what Axl deemed to be true after he took Anders' phone away from him and started enthusiastically looking through everything. Anders had quite a few contacts, but they were organized in different groups that would separate clients from family. (Axl noticed that the friends group was essentially empty. There was only 3 contacts. Mitchell, Henry, and Ned. Axl would have to ask about that later.) But the one section that interested him the most were a group of cellphone numbers marked with a few random symbols.

Axl looked at Anders who was lying down on his couch. "Anders, what are these phone numbers in this weird group." Axl held up the phone to show Anders what he meant.

Anders stared at his phone for a moment. "Oh, that's from the gang."

Axl stared at his older brother. "Gang. Like...Gang gang? Why the fuck do you have phone numbers from a gang in your cellphone?" His eyes widened. "Are you doing illegal shit? Like really illegal shit?"

Anders rolled his eyes. "Of course not, you idiot. I helped them out with something once and I got on their good side! They've actually helped me out of a few situations, so I'm not gonna lose that."

* * *

It had been a relatively normal day for Anders. He had actually managed to get quite a bit of work done for once, and gained quite a few new clients for his business. All in all, everything was great, and so he rewarded himself with a walk (He'd probably get drunk later for an even better reward.) As he was walking down the street, he noticed that a kid quite a bit younger than himself was struggling with quite a few bags that he was carrying. Seems like he was trying to get home from the market and thought he could carry everything to the car himself. Anders half wanted to walk away and leave the kid to figure the shit out on his own, but contrary to popular belief, he wasn't that much of an asshole. Sighing, he walked over to where the kid was struggling and tapped his shoulder.

"Need some help kid?" He asked.

The kid nodded and handed Anders with some of the bags with a sigh of relief. The car wasn't that far away from where they were, so they easily loaded up all the groceries. The kid grinned at him and said thank you. That's when shit got a bit weird.

It seemed like out of nowhere 5 rather intimidating looking guys came out and surrounded Anders and the younger boy. Anders immediately tensed up at stared at them. They didn't do anything for a moment, before the boy happily announced that Anders had actually helped him bring all the food to the car. As soon as the boy said that, all the men broke into a grin. Anders grinned sheepishly at all of them.

"Hey, thanks for helpin' the little man with his stuff! Ain't a lotta good people like you in the world." One of the taller ones said, slapping Anders on the back, causing him to stumble forward a bit.

"Ha...Yeah. No problem..." Anders replied awkwardly.

"If ya ever need anything little bro, you can let us know. We got your back." And with that he suddenly had a few slips of paper shoved into his hands, and the men were all gone.

He stared blankly at where the car previously was, and then looked down at the numbers in his hand. He then shoved them hastily into his pockets and quickly dialed Dawn's number as he jogged back to his house. She answered with a rather annoyed tone.

"What is it Anders? Don't tell me you did something stupid again."

"Well not exactly, but I think I just accidentally joined a gang." He ignored the gasp. "They seem nice enough though, and at least we have body guards if we ever need it, right?" He laughed and hung up before Dawn could reply. He then pulled out the slips of paper with the phone numbers and entered them on his phone. It was true, you never know when you might need some extra help.

* * *

"So that's it? You just helped some kids with groceries and these guys let you be in a gang? I didn't think it'd be that easy." Axl said thoughtfully.

"I'm not actually in the gang you dumbass. I'm just on their good side. I can get things I need whenever I need it. It's pretty kickass if I do say so myself." Anders grinned smugly as he took the phone from Axl's grasp. "Now really, why the fuck did you think it was okay to go through my phone anyways?"

"You didn't say anything before!"

"Yeah, cuz I thought you'd fucking stop!" Anders punched Axl on the arm in a rather playful manner, showing that he wasn't actually as pissed as he sounded.

"Well, I'll make my own gang!"

"What, with you and that weird kid you hang out with? I'm sure you'll be terrifying."

"Fuck off, Anders."


End file.
